Field mat



March 30, 1943. 0 ARTHUR 2,315,180

FIELD MAT Filed April '7, 1942 2'SheetsSheet 1 March 30, 1943.

o. F. ARTHUR FIELD MAT Filed April 7, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 30, 1943 Oscar F. Arthur, Belle Vernon, Pa.,

assignor to.

;Trl-State Engineering 60., a corporation of Maryland Application April 7, 1942, Serial No. 437,98

' Claims.

My invention relates to mats, and more particularly to mats of wire mesh especially suited for use on soft, swampy or sandy ground, to

thereby provide temporary landing fields for air-' planes, truck tracks, or beach aprons. the mats being useful also for other purposes such as covers for bomb shelters, on hangar floors, etc.

One object of my invention is to provide a mat of the character referred to which can be quickly be laid in sections of a size suitable for convenient handling and the sections then connected to form a unitary complete mat structure which has great strength though made of mesh wires of standard gages, and which is not subject to any substantial degree of billowing or bulging.

Another object of my invention is to provide a mat structure which, although it comprises woven mesh, is so made that the individual strands are effectively held against slipping rela ti'vely to one another, even under the impacts of airplane landing wheels, or other forces.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of my mat structure; Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 are enlarged sections taken on the lines II-II, III-III, IV-IV and VV, respectively, of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a plan view showing a modification of the structure of Fig. 1; Figs. '7, 8 and 9 are sectional views of certain of the connecting elements of Fig. 6; Fig. 10 is a view showing a modified form of connection plates for mat sections, and Fig. 11 shows the manner in which the plates of Fig. 10 are connected together.

Each mat section A and B comprises a series of panels 6 and I, together with a suitable number of additional panels of like structure which are not here shown.

-Where the mat is to be employed for a wide landing field area, each mat panel may suitably be twelve feed wide, so that with two sections A-B placed side-by-side as shown in Fig. 1, there is a landing strip of approximately 24 feet in width. Additional sections can be laid alongside these two sections, as desired, and connected thereto.

Each panel is formed of strand members 8 which may be of about 12 feet in length-when a 12-foot wide mat section is desired. In the drawings, only part-length strands l are shown. Th stay wires 9 are intermeshed or woven with the strands .8 bypassing them over and under successivestrand wires, the strands in turn pass-- ing over and under successive stay wlre's. The

stay wires 8 may conveniently be about 14 inches long. The wires 8 and 9 may be 9-gage wire, and

are preferably of spring .steel so that they will not easily become permanently bent in use or through handling, and the panels are further resistant to such deformation, because the strands can have slight slidingmovement on the stays 9.-

v The extremities of the stays are snugly bent back around the marginal strands, connecting plates Ill being provided on both ends of each panel. While only one plate is here shown on each panel, it will be understood that at the other end of each group of strands 8 a similar plate Ill will be provided. These plates are here shown as formed of a single metal strip folded upon itself as shown in Fig. 4, to form a loop, after which portions of the loop are cut away to form eyes or knuckles II. Th plates have slots l2 and I3 punched therein and the strand wires, near their ends, are pushed into the slots by suitable dies. a distance sufllcient to form permanent bends H therein. Rods or heavy wires 15 are then inserted through these loops or bends, to anchor the strands 8 to the plate and thereby prevent the strands from being pulled or shifted out of place, in directions.

The panels composing each mat section that extends longitudinally of the field are connected by spiral wires [6 and i1 and retaining rods l8. f

may thus be connected to form a mat section,

loaded on a truck and sent to the field where .it can be withdrawn by pulling the endmost panel, until all of the folds have been spread flatwise upon the ground. There can be some hundreds or even a thousand feet of panels preassembled.

and handled in this manner. Also, additional groups of folds can be connected to previously laid groups by other connecting wires lB-l'l-lil.

When a section such as A has been laid-and additional mat width is desired, another section such. as B is laid alongside A, with the knuckles H of their respective plates in axial alignment, so that retaining rods 2i can be inserted to hold them in assembled relation. While these plates form a hinge joint that provides some flexibility,

either longitudinal or transverse connecting the plates of they not only stifl'en the longitudinal edges ofth mat section and maintain such edges against relative deflection in vertical and horizontal diof missiles tearing through the mats, as compared rections, brat cooperate to provide endwlse an-w chorage for the strand wires 8 of both sections. 'Ihus, ii an impact tends to pull any of the strands of section B longitudinally of itseif,.such pull wili'be resisted not only by the plate ID of that section, but by .the plates II and strands O of the adjacent section A. The plates II are further capable of withstanding the weightof airplane or vehicle wheels, and thus prevent the edge oilone mat sectionbeing pushed below. the edgeof the adjacent mat section, and they are reinforced in this newest by reason of their flrm adapted for connection to mats that do not have hingediy connected panels. Also, the mat may deflect bombs and 'other missiles, and will in some cases cause the bombsv to be exploded before contact with the extending transversely of the strand wires and connection to the bends N of the mat strands.

Thus a proliflc source of accidents resulting from weaker forms of connections is avoided. The

of travel upon the mat surface.

The panels of each mat section ma conveniently be arranged in groups, at the factory, the panels of each group being connected by wires 22, to a suitable total length. The wires i6 and I! may also'be applied to the endmost panels of each group, at the factory, and the groups then connected together at the field, simply by inserting the rods l8.

Referring now to Figs. 6 to 9, the panels are each provided with plates 24 and 25 that correspond to the plates ID of Fig.1, but formed and arranged in a somewhat diflerent manner. The plates 2| and their panels are ofl'set longitudinally oi the fleld, relative to the plates 25 and their panels, to divide thetransverse Joints and thus give a stiii'er mat structure. Also, these Joints are further strengthened and stiflened by each section by the use of coils 26 and 21 which engage slots in the ends of the bars. The coils 2! connect the adjacent ends of the plates in each group of panels, while two coils 21 are provided for connecting the plates of one longitudinal group to the plates of the other group. A rod 28 is inserted to connect these coils and spiral wires 29 and 80 that correspond to the wires l6 and. i! but which have deep loops 3i formed thereon by stretching some 01 the turns after the spirals are in place on the panels.

. transversejoints at l0-|||l are not subjected to such great strains as aretne longitudinal joints, since they extend crosswise oi theline 1 and stay wires being so; 3.A panel for use The plates 2! have loops or knuckles 32 formed thereon, to snugly receive rods 33. The plates 25 have hooks :4 formed thereon or welded thereto,

and provided with retaining springs 35, after the manner of harness snaps.- In connecting one section to another the hooks are simply pressed down to bring them into hooked engagement with the rz-ds l3.

In Figs. 10 and 11 I show a somewhat simpler form of connection for plates 31 and 38 that correspondto the plates 24-! 5. In this arrangement the plates each have hooks 39 and retaining springs 10. The hooksof each plate are engageable with slots i in the adjacent plate, to connect the mat sections together.

As to other uses for the mats, they may be employed as bomb protective screens and fragmentation protective screens-in someinstances serving as a substitute for sand bags. Thus, they may be hung in proximity to airplanes on a fleld, to protect against missiles directed horizontally,

or maybe hung in inclined positions above the planes or above the deck of a ship.

The yieldability of the paneled structure will reduce danger providedwith slots, portions of the strands adjacent to their extremities being deflected through the slots, from one side of the plate, and a retaining element located between the opposite side of the plate and said deflected portions, to thereby anchor the strandwires to the plate.

2. A: panel for use in -forming a mat and adapted for connection to other panels, comprising a mesh having strand and stay wires, a plate extending transversely of the strand wires and provided with slots, portions of the strands adja-' cent to their extremities being deflected through the slots, from one sideof theplate, and a retainingelement located plate and said deflected portions. to thereby anchor the strand wires to the plate, the strand interwoven and having slidable engagement with one another.

adapted for connection to other panels, comprising a mesh having strand and stay .wires, a plate extendingtransyersely of the strand wires and provided with slots, portions of the strands adjacent to their extremities being deflected through the slots, from one side of the plate,- and a retaining element located between the opposite side of the plate and said deflected portions, to thereby anchor the strand wires to the plate, the outermost edge of the plate being provided with knuckles or the like, which are;.,spaced'apart longitudinally of the plate and are adapted for connection to similarly arranged knuckles on an adjacent panel.

4. A panel for use in forminga mat and adapted for connection to other'panels, comprising a mesh having strand and stay wires, a plate extending transversely of the strand wires and provided with slots, portions of the strands adjacent to their extremities being deflected through the slots, from the plate and said deflected portions, to thereby anchor the strand wires to the plate, the outermost edgeof the plate being provided with hooks which are spaced apart longitudinally of the plate and are adapted for connection to an adjacent panel.

5. A panel for use in forming a mat and adapted for connection to other panels, comprising a mesh having strand and stay wires, a plate extending transversely of the strand wires and provided with slots, portions of the strands adiacent to their extremities being deflected through the slots, from one side of the plate,and a retaining element locatedbetween the opposite side of the plate and said deflected portions, to thereby OSCAR F. ARTHUR.

between opposite side of the' in forming a mat and one side of the plate, and a retaining element located between the opposite side of 

